SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna begin in just a moment in verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Give you a second.
SPEAKER_00: If you got it, say amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, Acts chapter 19.
SPEAKER_00: So idolatry was not just a problem in the ancient world, but it transcends both time and culture.
SPEAKER_00: In our text today, we find these pagan Ephesians are guilty of worshiping what we might call visible idols crafted by men.
SPEAKER_00: Now, most of us in the Western world, let's uh hope you don't, have like a graven image in your home that you bow down to.
SPEAKER_00: We don't bow down to visible idols, but we just make invisible ones.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Cowler, who again has done a lot of work in this area, said that the human heart is an idol factory.
SPEAKER_00: See, the form of idolatry changes from culture to culture, but the factory has not closed.
SPEAKER_00: The idols have just become modernized.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just remind you of the definition of an idol in relation to what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Idols are anything we turn to other than God for ultimate meaning and satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: Now, idols can be, to be sure, bad things, drugs, alcohol, any kind of substance that we turn to to kind of cope with life and bring our life's fulfillment.
SPEAKER_00: But often, more often I would say, as Keller has repeatedly said, idols are actually good things that we turn into ultimate things.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Idol are good things that we turn into ultimate things.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, idolatry is not just a secular problem.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in within the church, within these four walls, there are idols today vying for our worship, promising to satisfy our hearts, breathing the lie that, listen, Christ is good, but he's actually not enough.
SPEAKER_00: You need this thing too to really make your life fulfilling.
SPEAKER_00: But today I want to remind you simply that being a real follower of Jesus involves exposing idols and turning from them, turning wholly to the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So let me again begin by talking about the necessity of exposing idols.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why must this happen?
SPEAKER_00: Well, to go to the text, Paul is currently on his third missionary journey in this city in Asia Minor called Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, he will spend three years in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Ephesus at this time, it's by the way, it's modern-day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the most influential cities in the Greco-Roman world.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a combination of, what would you say, DC and New York, like rolled into one, and probably LA in there somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Not a place I'd really want to visit.
SPEAKER_00: You um it was a religious center, it was a political hub, and it was a harbor town.
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, bustling commerce drew visitors from all over the world.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, because of its influence, this became a strategic city for a kind of a gospel ministry hub.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Paul spends those three years there.
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into the text.
SPEAKER_00: I want to point you uh to verse 23.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul is in Ephesus in Luke writing, says this about that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the way.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the way is what Christians were called, or what Christianity was called generally uh in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: But Luke tells us here that that Paul and other Christians are charged with disturbing the city.
SPEAKER_00: They're disturbing the city throughout Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: He he then quotes this silversmith by the name of Demetrius, and there he gives us more detail as to what the disturbance is over.
SPEAKER_00: So look at verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: So this is Demetrius speaking, and he says, You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
SPEAKER_00: So the disturbance results from Paul and other believers exposing the idols that the people were worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: These idols that were a very significant part of Roman culture.
SPEAKER_00: So you might ask this like, why, Paul?
SPEAKER_00: Why go there?
SPEAKER_00: Like, why not just preach the warm and cuddly love of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Well, why stir up trouble by criticizing their gods?
SPEAKER_00: And fair question.
SPEAKER_00: There's a couple reasons that this exposure, exposing of the idols is necessary.
SPEAKER_00: One, because following Jesus requires a person turn from idols.
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's not optional.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23 notice this about this time there arose no little disturbance concerning what?
SPEAKER_00: The way.
SPEAKER_00: See, in in Paul's day, there in uh Ephesus, the Roman world, it was a very polytheistic culture, meaning that they worshiped many gods.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there was a God for this and a God for that, and there was just a plethora of gods that were worshiped.
SPEAKER_00: So had Paul come in and just said, hey, let me tell you about this another God, this another savior named, this other savior named Jesus, uh, and you know, just worship him along with your other gods, there would have been no problem.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is, because the message of the gospel is not Jesus is a way and a God, but he is the God.
SPEAKER_00: What's he say?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus say himself in John 14 6.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I am what?
SPEAKER_00: The way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except by me.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says in Matthew 6, 24, no one can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve God and money, nor any other idol.
SPEAKER_00: What's the implication?
SPEAKER_00: If you want this good news, if you want salvation that comes through Christ, you must reject every other idol in God you worship.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, to worship any other God along with Jesus, to attempt to do that, do you know it's to break the chief command of the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: The first commandment.
SPEAKER_00: You shall have no other gods before me.
SPEAKER_00: So you might not want to keep worshiping idols.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we need to clarify this in the contemporary world.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, a lot of people in America, you know what they want?
SPEAKER_00: They hear the good news and about the love of Jesus and they go, okay, give me that.
SPEAKER_00: But they attempt to just try to tack Jesus on to their already sinful, idolatrous lives.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not what being a Christian means.
SPEAKER_00: To turn to Jesus to receive the gospel is to abandon the sin and the idols in our lives and give ourselves wholly and fully to Him.
SPEAKER_00: So one reason it's necessary to expose idols is because requiring Jesus or following Jesus requires turning from idols.
SPEAKER_00: But secondly, we need to expose idols because idols do not satisfy.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they never deliver what they promise.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 26 again.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the charge that comes against Paul.
SPEAKER_00: He has been going around saying these gods made with hands are actually not gods at all.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're ministering to somebody of another religion or who looks to some cultural idol for satisfaction, and you go, actually, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Um, your God's not a god at all.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these Ephesians, these are the gods that they believe in, love, and serve.
SPEAKER_00: They've done it for a lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: But what's the implication here by Paul saying these aren't gods at all?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, actually, this God that you're sacrificing to, these gods that you are bowing down to, they can never provide you what they promise.
SPEAKER_00: They will never satisfy your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it might sound brutal to say such a thing, but you know, it's actually the most loving thing you can tell someone to say you're praying and sacrificing to a God that can never help you, can never protect you, can never save you.
SPEAKER_00: But worshiping idols gets even more serious than that.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just that they don't deliver what they promise, but as Keller often said, idols promise satisfaction but end up enslaving or crushing us.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just they don't deliver on their promises, they actually enslave us and they crush us.
SPEAKER_00: Just yesterday, I came upon uh an interview of Joe Walsh.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you know who Joe Walsh is.
SPEAKER_00: All right, former uh member of the of the Eagles.
SPEAKER_00: And uh he was talking about his 30-year addiction with alcohol, and he said this, and I thought, man, this is going in my sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Watch, listen to what he said.
SPEAKER_00: He says that once any substance, alcohol or whatever it is, once these substances are running your life, listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: They don't work for you anymore, you work for them.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Joe Walsh, for saying exactly what I wanted to articulate.
SPEAKER_00: See, you start looking to idols, you know, think of substances, but you you think, oh man, this this is going to work for me.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to help me cope with life.
SPEAKER_00: But you talk to any addict or former addict, and they will tell you, it will end up running your life.
SPEAKER_00: You will work for it, it will not work for you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says to this.
SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, this is so good.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Over time, whatever you're using convinces you that you cannot live without it, and then it's got you.
SPEAKER_00: Now that is not just true of substance addictions, but it's true of every idol that we worship.
SPEAKER_00: It can never satisfy you, yet it enslaves you and it convinces you you could never live without it.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you a couple examples.
SPEAKER_00: Think about money.
SPEAKER_00: That's a big idol in our culture, yes.
SPEAKER_00: So there's is there anything wrong with money?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to get it and I want you to tithe it, all right?
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: money can never satisfy your heart.
SPEAKER_00: The more you trust it and the more you get, the more it can enslave you.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, we know this you will never be satisfied with the amount that you get.
SPEAKER_00: You're always going to desire more because you you become a millionaire and you're like, well, this didn't really make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, try me, but it's not gonna make me happy.
SPEAKER_00: And but so then you think, well, I just must not have enough.
SPEAKER_00: And then you pursue more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: And if you pursue more, and if this money is kind of your pursuit in life, here's what will happen: it will enslave you and it'll crush you and the people you love because you will you will neglect your family, your church, you become a workaholic just to get more, and you'll even exploit people to line your own pockets.
SPEAKER_00: What about beauty and allure?
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that's an idol today.
SPEAKER_00: Many in our culture find ultimate meaning in physical beauty, and if that's you, you will become enslaved to physical appearance and sexual allure, and your identity, don't we see this in the news?
SPEAKER_00: Your identity will be reduced to your sexuality and physical appearance.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not tragic?
SPEAKER_00: And here's if if that is your idol, here's what will happen: you will never feel pretty enough, you will never feel handsome enough, and you will spend untold amounts of money on clothing and anti-aging products to try to beat the system, to not look your age, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens?
SPEAKER_00: I'm stepping on some toes, Hunter.
SPEAKER_00: All those uh beauty products you're buying.
SPEAKER_00: See, Hunter's really 70 years old, and look at him.
SPEAKER_00: What happens?
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: What happens if you lose your beauty in some tragedy or you actually age and show it?
SPEAKER_00: You will be undone.
SPEAKER_00: And you will think, I cannot live without this physical beauty.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let me give you one more.
SPEAKER_00: The the idol of family.
SPEAKER_00: When you derive ultimate meeting, meaning from your from mothering your children, it will crush you and it will crush your kid.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: When you derive ultimate meaning and purpose from mothering your child, it will crush you as a mother and it will crush the child.
SPEAKER_00: You'll never stop mothering them, even when they're married and grown.
SPEAKER_00: And when they leave home, first of all, you'll do everything you can to get them to stay a little bit longer.
SPEAKER_00: And when they finally leave home, you will be undone.
SPEAKER_00: And you will feel like all meaning and identity has left your life.
SPEAKER_00: Idols that we serve, these cultural idols, they are not God's.
SPEAKER_00: They cannot give you meaning, they cannot satisfy you, and they will enslave you and crush you.
SPEAKER_00: It's incumbent upon all of us to tell people that and to tell ourselves that day in and day out.
SPEAKER_00: So preaching and exposing idols is necessary, but it's also, secondly, it's costly.
SPEAKER_00: It's costly.
SPEAKER_00: So in our text, the people aren't too happy about the fact that uh people are turning from idols, and there's two reasons why one is financial and the other is tradition.
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the financial issue here.
SPEAKER_00: So look at verses 24 and 25.
SPEAKER_00: So that for this man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsman.
SPEAKER_00: These he gathered together with a workmen in similar traits.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he said Listen, men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
SPEAKER_00: So Demetrius, Demetrius is one of the many silversmiths, and here's what they would do: they sold little pocket-sized replicas of the temple of Artemis.
SPEAKER_00: And Artemis, this is uh other name is Diana, this is the temple of Diana, the patron god of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so these silversmiths, man, they were making bank because they would make these little kind of shrines and people from all over by the thousands.
SPEAKER_00: Silver was very costly.
SPEAKER_00: So they sell them for premium prices, and the people were told, you know what, you can set these shrines up in your home and you can pray before them and you can worship before them, and these gods and goddesses will hear your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: So, as Paul's gone throughout Asia Minor, people are turning from these idols, nobody's buying them anymore.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you went like you visit a museum or some vacation center or what have you?
SPEAKER_00: And what do they do at the very end of the tour?
SPEAKER_00: There's always a gift shop.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you like you're a sucker to gift shops?
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, you don't need one of the little memorabilia pieces or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Like we're cheap, so we buy like the magnets.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we buy, right?
SPEAKER_00: How many magnets, you know, some of you buy little trinkets or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: But but, anyways, you you know, they always get you.
SPEAKER_00: That's a big part of their business.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the deal with Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: These silversmiths, they made, you know, people would come and visit the temple and they'll say, Hey, take a little piece of the temple with you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember your visit and even set it up as a little shrine and altar.
SPEAKER_00: And Diana herself will hear you.
SPEAKER_00: So when people turn from idols, it costs.
SPEAKER_00: It costs.
SPEAKER_00: There's economic impact.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just give you an example to go back to the idol of beauty and sexual lure.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: It is estimated, ladies, that on average you spend just under$4,000 a year on making yourself beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: In 2023, this will blow your mind.
SPEAKER_00: In 2023, skincare products alone brought in an estimated$23 billion in the U.S.
SPEAKER_00: Think of the ramifications.
SPEAKER_00: If we're preaching the gospel and our culture is saying no longer, you know, they're they're they're now going, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Beauty, physical beauty is not what's most important.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, there's nothing I'm not suggesting you try to make yourself ugly, all right?
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm suggesting.
SPEAKER_00: But don't make it your God.
SPEAKER_00: It would devastate the beauty industry if we started teaching, particularly young people.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: It's not all about physical beauty.
SPEAKER_00: So exposing idols threaten pocket threatens pocketbooks, but it also threatens traditions.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: Demetrius says there's a danger not only that this trait of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis, Diana, may be counted as nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And that she may even be deposed from her magnificent magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.
SPEAKER_00: The temple, the grand attraction in Ephesus, would now be regarded as worthless.
SPEAKER_00: This temple, I won't go into all the specs, you can look it up, but it is it was magnificent.
SPEAKER_00: And then the so the temple that that thousands, hundreds of thousands of people would come to, it would it would be seen as nothing.
SPEAKER_00: But then he says Artemis herself would be stripped of glory.
SPEAKER_00: Now, does that sound like much of a goddess?
SPEAKER_00: If if a goddess's glory or God's glory is dependent on us recognizing that glory, that's not much of a god.
SPEAKER_00: So this would threaten, think about this, it would threaten Ephesian culture and would make these long-held traditions nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And the people don't much like this, they get pretty angry.
SPEAKER_00: You start messing with people's idols, they're not very nice.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verses 28 through 34.
SPEAKER_00: So when the people heard this, they were enraged and they began crying out, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, who were Paul's companions in travel.
SPEAKER_00: But when Paul wished to go into the crowd, the disciples wouldn't let him in.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was so barbaric that they said, Paul, they'll kill you.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going in.
SPEAKER_00: And even some of the Assyrics, who were friends of Paul's, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some cried out one thing, some cried out another, for the assembly was in confusion.
SPEAKER_00: Most of them didn't even know why they'd come together.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward.
SPEAKER_00: And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice, two hours! They're chanting, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the theater mentioned here is the great amphitheater of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: It uh seated about 25,000 people.
SPEAKER_00: And the theater is still standing today.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, I think, Wendy, do we have a picture?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
SPEAKER_00: Look, this is taken by uh Terry and Ron Busky.
SPEAKER_00: They got to visit this.
SPEAKER_00: Now imagine that stadium is filled, and Paul and his disciples are there, and they're like, there's riots going on.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, the coose, this is really known for its acoustics.
SPEAKER_00: It said that you could stand about any place and talk in a normal voice, and the whole crowd could hear you.
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: There's this riot that breaks out here.
SPEAKER_00: And they drag Paul and the companions there, and the whole place is in confusion.
SPEAKER_00: It's in an uproar, and they start chanting.
SPEAKER_00: Now, is this relevant to our current situation or what?
SPEAKER_00: You've been watching the news?
SPEAKER_00: Like there are protests and riots going on, riots going on all over the country.
SPEAKER_00: And Christians are hated.
SPEAKER_00: Some of it's political, but Christians are hated.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the message of Christ that we proclaim is not just Jesus loves you, but it's your God.
SPEAKER_00: Your gods are not gods at all.
SPEAKER_00: And people don't much care for that.
SPEAKER_00: Just a couple of weeks ago, I don't know if you saw the news that in Seattle activists connected to Antifa and the LGBTQ movement were protesting and allegedly threw urine-filled balloons at Christians who were worshiping in this particular park.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what's so interesting about the riots.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've seen there's some people that are going around in the midst of these riots, and they're, you know, putting these videos on social media, and they'll ask, like, why are you upset?
SPEAKER_00: Like this thing that you're chanting, what does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: And they have no clue.
SPEAKER_00: They cannot articulate, they don't even know why they're supposed to be mad.
SPEAKER_00: The people in in Ephesus here in the amphitheater, they are confused.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know, these rioters, they are confused.
SPEAKER_00: And they are eaten up with anger.
SPEAKER_00: Because why?
SPEAKER_00: Because their gods, they know deep down, are not satisfying their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: They know deep down they are not gods at all.
SPEAKER_00: In verses 35 through 41, I don't have time to read it, but we read that the town clerk finally steps up and says, guys, quit behaving like this.
SPEAKER_00: He silences the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if you have an issue with Paul and these other people, bring formal charges against them.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the way to handle it.
SPEAKER_00: And just as a side note, can I say this?
SPEAKER_00: I wish we had some people in these big cities with some courage, some magistrates and some mayors and some governors in these states.
SPEAKER_00: They are scared to death themselves to these rioters.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, people violently protesting, burning buildings, stepping on, you know, breaking windows out of police cars, and the mayor's just gonna go, oh, you know, I'm not gonna do anything about it.
SPEAKER_00: What cowards! Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, at least somebody in Ephesus, how do I say that, had the courage.
SPEAKER_00: There you go, had the courage to stand up.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I was thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Had the courage to stand up and to say, listen, this is enough.
SPEAKER_00: This is ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: You're adults, you want to bring a charge, go through the system.
SPEAKER_00: That's free.
SPEAKER_00: All right, people hate us because we expose that their gods are not gods at all.
SPEAKER_00: So exposing idols is costly, but finally, exposing idols is beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: During Paul's time in Ephesus, some people became furious, these thousands of writers.
SPEAKER_00: But many turned from their idols, and that is a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: If we go back up to the text we read last week, we see this very thing happening still in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 18 and 19 of chapter 19.
SPEAKER_00: Many of those who you who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices, and a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.
SPEAKER_00: And they counted the value of them and they came to 50,000 pieces of silver.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, how many pieces of silver was Jesus sold for?
SPEAKER_00: 30.
SPEAKER_00: These magic books, no printing press, these books of the occult were fifty thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_00: And the occult was prevalent in Ephesus at that time.
SPEAKER_00: And people were looking to the magic arts for production and wisdom and prophecy and all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, many of those people who were bought into that, they believed the message of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: By their own accord, Paul did not demand this, by their own accord.
SPEAKER_00: They go back home and they look at these magic books, these idols, this idolatry, and they said, We don't need this garbage anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Even Harry Potter took his magic books and burned them.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, they they took them out and they burned them.
SPEAKER_00: Why would they do that?
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_00: Because finally their hearts rested in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: When your heart rests in Jesus, it's satisfied in Jesus, you don't need the idols anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: In the Greco-Roman world, Artemis, Diana, and all the Greco-Roman gods, they demanded sacrifices in exchange for blessing.
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's true of those who serve the cultural idols today, they constantly demand sacrifice, but they never deliver on what they promise.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just contrast this with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: So all idols demand sacrifice in exchange for blessing, but Jesus became our sacrifice, that in him we might be blessed, have our hearts satisfied, and be made whole.
SPEAKER_00: It's a pretty good deal.
SPEAKER_00: Exposing idols is necessary, it's costly, but it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Now, at the beginning of the message, I argue that idols are not just a secular problem, but they're vying for our worship, trying to convince us that we need to worship them for satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: I want to remind you again one more time of Keller's definition of an idol.
SPEAKER_00: Idols are good things that we made ultimate things, and an idol is anything other than God that we look to for ultimate meaning and satisfaction.
SPEAKER_00: So here's what how I want to close today.
SPEAKER_00: I want each of us, okay, can you stay with me for just another couple minutes here?
SPEAKER_00: I want you, along with me, to think about the idols that are trying to take up residence in our own hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting here, I'm I'm gonna just give you a few examples here, and you'll see that these idols today are the same idols of the Greek Greco Roman world.
SPEAKER_00: Same.
SPEAKER_00: They're just packaged differently.
SPEAKER_00: They're invisible now.
SPEAKER_00: They were visible then.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the idol of money or financial success.
SPEAKER_00: This idol is akin to Artemis, Diana, whom the people look to for protection and prosperity, especially the craftsmen and the silversmiths.
SPEAKER_00: Money is a good thing again, but when we make it the ultimate thing, it will crush us and pull us away from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how do you know?
SPEAKER_00: If you're worshiping the idol of money, let me give you some questions.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: Step on your toes a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: You ready?
SPEAKER_00: Smile at me.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Are you stingy with your money?
SPEAKER_00: Do you look to your savings account for ultimate protection?
SPEAKER_00: Do you have to keep up with the Joneses?
SPEAKER_00: Do you need the bigger house and the nicer car to feel good about yourself?
SPEAKER_00: If so, you might be worshiping Diana.
SPEAKER_00: What about the idol of politics?
SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going here.
SPEAKER_00: Zeus was the king of the gods, the god of power who represented national pride.
SPEAKER_00: The modern equivalent, modern equivalents would be the idol of politics and nationalism.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to respect and pray for those in political power.
SPEAKER_00: I think we're to be good citizens and we should love our country.
SPEAKER_00: But when we look to our country and our politicians for security and meaning, they become Zeus-like idols.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm speaking to some people here, but here's some questions for you to see if this is an idol you struggle with.
SPEAKER_00: Do you put all your stock into a political party?
SPEAKER_00: Check your Facebook page.
SPEAKER_00: I see you.
SPEAKER_00: Are you looking to a particular political leader for security and protection?
SPEAKER_00: Are you undone?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: Are you undone when your candidate doesn't get voted in?
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, a president, a governor cannot satisfy your heart and give you what they promise.
SPEAKER_00: They never can, but Jesus Christ can.
SPEAKER_00: Turn from Zeus and worship the living God.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here's another one.
SPEAKER_00: The the idol of family.
SPEAKER_00: This is akin to worshiping Juno, who was the goddess of marriage, family, and childbirth, family, uh familiar relationships.
SPEAKER_00: They're a blessing from the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: Marriages, children, blessings.
SPEAKER_00: But when the family becomes the ultimate thing, it will crush you.
unknown: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the questions for you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you look to your spouse to complete you?
SPEAKER_00: How many get the reference of that one?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Probably a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: Do you look to your spouse for the ultimate source of happiness?
SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of divorces, they go, well, it doesn't make me happy happiness anymore.
SPEAKER_00: That's not his job.
SPEAKER_00: That's not her job.
SPEAKER_00: You're to be help meets.
SPEAKER_00: You're to worship God together and raise a family together.
SPEAKER_00: You're happy.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding?
SPEAKER_00: When that's your attitude, you are turning your spouse into a savior and spouses, they're great blessings but lousy saviors.
SPEAKER_00: And your spouse, if you communicate that to them, they will be crushed under the weight of your expectations.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_00: What about children?
SPEAKER_00: Do you put an undue amount of pressure on your children to succeed?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we should want them to succeed, but I'm saying, like, are you undone when they fail at something?
SPEAKER_00: Because how it maybe how it reflects on you, you feel like a failure.
SPEAKER_00: All right, here it goes.
SPEAKER_00: Mamas, especially, do you still try to parent your adult children?
SPEAKER_00: Parents, that's hard not to do.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I struggle.
SPEAKER_00: I see a lot of people smiling in here.
SPEAKER_00: Especially those of you sitting next to mama, you're like, let me ask this.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have a Hobby Lobby sign hanging in your house that says family is everything?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to confess this morning?
SPEAKER_00: No, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you in the back.
SPEAKER_00: You have a anybody?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, family that sounds really cute and good.
SPEAKER_00: Family is not everything, Jesus is everything.
SPEAKER_00: The God of education and career, I'm almost done here.
SPEAKER_00: The God of education and career, akin to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and craftsmanship.
SPEAKER_00: Should we value education and work?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: But let me ask you, do you constantly need to feel like the smartest person in the room?
SPEAKER_00: Casey, did you say you are the Casey is worshiping Athena?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this: do you look to your degrees for meaning and happiness?
SPEAKER_00: Are you undone when you don't know something?
SPEAKER_00: Or when someone would dare suggest that you aren't the smartest person in the room?
SPEAKER_00: Don't answer, Casey.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this: do you sacrifice faith and family on the altar of your work because you so value your career?
unknown: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: You know, for me, just to be transparent, you know what the idol is that I most wrestle with?
SPEAKER_00: It's the idol of ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's quite possible to work so hard in the ministry and spend so long crafting sermons.
SPEAKER_00: And then I've noticed when I've spent a long time crafting sermons, and you look at me like a deer in the headlights that I leave feeling down and despondent.
SPEAKER_00: Shame on you.
SPEAKER_00: Um but here's what here's what I realize in those moments.
SPEAKER_00: Courtney, which point made you mad?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I realized in those moments when I'm I'm just disheartened and undone because you didn't respond like I thought you should, or nobody came to the altar.
SPEAKER_00: I realize, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Preaching has become an idol to me.
SPEAKER_00: I should want to do well in the pulpit, but what I ought to be asking when I leave the pulpit is God, were you glorified?
SPEAKER_00: I often think about what if I couldn't do ministry?
SPEAKER_00: What if I had to work another job?
SPEAKER_00: And I it's sometimes just to be honest, and this is a horrible thing, but I feel like my whole identity would be gone.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I've spent 20, better part of 25 years doing.
SPEAKER_00: I love what I do, but I've learned it's a horrible God.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry is.
SPEAKER_00: My identity is not in my ability to pastor, my identity is not being a quote-unquote reverend.
SPEAKER_00: My identity is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, the God of beauty and sexual allure, akin to the goddess Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality.
SPEAKER_00: Many in our culture worship sexual identity, sexuality, appearance, and erotic love.
SPEAKER_00: Is this news to anybody?
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing wrong with physical beauty.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, there is nothing wrong with sex.
SPEAKER_00: God created it.
SPEAKER_00: I always say God had a really good day the day he thought that up.
SPEAKER_00: But listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Sex is a gift to be enjoyed by one man and one woman in the confines of marriage.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: And it is to be enjoyed within that context, and only in that context.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's somebody that just needs to hear that today.
SPEAKER_00: But when we make beauty and sexuality the ultimate thing, the gift that God gives to be enjoyed, but when we start worshiping it like our culture does, we turn these gifts into Aphrodite.
unknown: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Does it enslave us?
SPEAKER_00: So here you go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to ask you some very serious questions.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have to have the latest fashion trends to feel good about yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Do you spend an undue amount of money and time on beautifying yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Does the thought of aging crush you?
SPEAKER_00: Do you need to feel sexually alluring?
SPEAKER_00: Do you look to pornography as a way of coping with life?
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing, guys.
SPEAKER_00: We all are tempted to worship one of these idols and many more.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know which where if any of these resonate with you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they do.
SPEAKER_00: If you're honest, if if you say, well, none of those pertain to me, then then you worship the the idol of what would you say?
SPEAKER_00: Falsehood.
SPEAKER_00: Do you worship the God of success, money, the idol of politics, the idol of family, the idol of education and career, the idol of beauty and sexual lure?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I just want to remind you as we close, that thing that is telling you, and that the world is telling you, will make you happy if you worship it.
SPEAKER_00: It will not.
SPEAKER_00: And not only will it not make you happy, it will destroy your life and it will destroy those around you.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here and you're a Christian, I would ask you today, pray, Holy Spirit, expose the idols of my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Repent and be reminded today that there's only one who can satisfy the heart.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Who gave himself as a sacrifice for you at the cost of his life so that you could be saved and you could have that which your heart most needs.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, if you're here and you're not a Christian today, you're no doubt everybody's looking for something for happiness and meaning.
SPEAKER_00: I would invite you today to turn from that which will enslave you and crush you and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, believing in his death, burial, and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Your life will never be the same.